CSB Issues Methyl Isocyanate Plan

The Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its requirements for a study of the feasibility of reducing or eliminating the stockpile of methyl isocyanate (MIC) at the Bayer CropScience pesticide manufacturing plant in Institute, W.Va. Last year, Congress appropriated $575,000 for CSB to contract with the National Academy of Sciences for NAS to form a panel to investigate MIC use at the plant. The NAS panel would include process safety and engineering experts as well as community and labor organizations, and the investigation would be completed within one year. Two years ago, a Bayer plant explosion killed two workers and threatened an above­ground tank that held 13,000 lb of MIC and was located 80 feet from the accident’s site. A release of MIC from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, in 1984 resulted in the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of people who lived nearby. Bayer’s use and storage of large quantities of MIC at this plant have riled the community because of the plant’s location near homes and a university, which abuts Bayer’s fence line. Community pressure prompted Congress to mandate the NAS study, which could serve as an industry model for the reduction of toxic chemicals, CSB notes.